I picked this up, since I had the 11th Doctor Edition of Doctor Who. This short and compact guide gives you a great wealth of adventures to play in in the time of the 10th Doctor. The great thing is, they all work with the 11th Doctor as well.

I would recommend anyone getting the 11th Doctor Edition to pick this one up as well.

I've just recently gotten into Dr. Who, and have really been enjoying it. Now, there's magically a new edition of the Good Doctor's RPG? Perfect timing!

This game is just gorgeous, with fantastic photos throughout, featuring the 11th Doctor, Rory, Amy and River Song.

The rules are nice and basic, allowing for more roleplaying, less rollplaying. There are also some really fantastic adventure ideas.

I thought it would be hard to come up with stories within the Dr. Who universe. After all, there's the Doctor and his companions. Then what? Turns out, there are an infinite number of possibilities in the world of Doctor Who.

Here it is! The big review of the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game. I was kindly sent a review copy from Margret Weis Productions, and wanted to share my thoughts here. Face front, true believers!

The Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game is unlike anything you've seen before, while at the same time, familiar. It shares a similar ruleset to Leverage and Smallville, and to a lesser extent, Serenity and Battlestar Galactica, but is interpreted in a whole new way, to create a more dramatic and combat-focused game.

Whereas Smallville spent more time dealing with relationships, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying focuses more in interaction between characters, as well as combat. It isn't a combat-centric game, but, being about superheroes, the rules definitely give you the ability to hit things.

The Mechanics

The Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game uses a dice pool mechanic. Using various options on your character sheet (Affiliations, Distinctions, Power Sets), you add dice to your pool, roll the dice, and choose your best two. All rolls are opposed rolls.

You are then able to choose one other die that's left over to use as your effect, basically determining how powerful your roll was, if successful.

If you roll any 1s, those dice are given to the Watcher (Game Master), which are added to his Doom Pool. The Doom Pool can be used for all kinds of bad things, and work similarly to Plot Points.

Plot Points are given to players in certain circumstances, including a player purposefully giving themselves a bad roll. They can use these Plot Points later to get more dice in their roll, as well as activate more powerful abilities.

An interesting thing a player gets to add to their pool is their Affiliation. Each hero works well as either a Solo character, a Buddy character, or a Team. If you have a d10 in Solo, you will have a d10 to roll in your pool, whereas if you only have a d6 in it, that's what you'll roll. This means you'll have to use some tactics to make sure you're paired-up (or not) to what works best for you. In addition, the Watcher can use their Doom Pool to either separate or push heroes together in order to disadvantage the players.

Distinctions are a key word or phrase that can be used to advantage or disadvantage a player. For example, Captain America's Man Out of Time could be used to allow him to remember something that happened in the 40's, but used to disadvantage him when covering something that happened while he was on ice. If it's used as a disadvantage, the player is given a Plot Point. Pretty nifty.

Characters also have specialties, which are similar to Skills in other games, and an either be Expert or Master level. Basically, if you are in a situation where one of your specialties apply, you can use that die.

Milestones are a mechanic that is similar to Lady Blackbird, where you have certain key roleplaying moments that give you XP for performing the actions on the milestones.

One interesting thing about the way a character's turn works is that a character is able to perform any action that could be performed in a single frame of a comic. In addition, whoever's turn it is decides who next gets to act, meaning that there is no set turn order from round to round.

Character creation is fairly robust, but has no real hard or fast rules. It's more of a "do what works best, and ask your Watcher if this is okay." I like the idea behind it, and look forward to making characters of my own.

Breakout

There's a mini-event in the Basic Game, similar to the Event books that will be coming in the future (Civil War, Annihilation, Age of Apocalypse). The event is basically issues 1-6 of the New Avengers. It deals with the breakout of the supervillains from the Raft prison in New York. The storyline is pretty straightforward, but features a lot of villains that will lead to interesting conflict between them and the heroes. For example, the Purple Man is one of the prisoners, and if one of the players is playing Luke Cage and knows the backstory between the two, you can have a really fascinating scene.

There's a wide variety of villains, but most are fairly minor bad guys. This gives you the opportunity to introduce bigger villains that you've made the stats for yourself later on.

Halfway through the event, the heroes can make their way to the Savage Land, which leads to some fantastic "superhero vs. dinosaur" action.

It's a great event to introduce players to the system and the world (if they're unfamiliar with it).

Datafiles

There are a great variety of heroes in the book, including all of the major players in the universe, such as Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man and more. There's quite a few women to play, which was encouraging to see, such as Invisible Woman, Emma Frost, Shadowcat and a few more. Each datafile really captures the feel of the heroes.

Overall Impressions

This is a great, fantastic game system, one which is robust, easy to use, and will, I think, stand the test of time. Go check it out now.

This is some great stock art. While there are some weaker points to the set, there are some phenomenal pieces that could easily be used for the cover or interior artwork of your next RPG book.

Of particular note is the white dragon, with its intricate armor, and the ice giant battling the group of adventurers. Both are fantastic works, and I'll be looking at adding them to my next book. Pick it up!

Once again, Darkmook has made a fantastic piece of art. This set features a modern magician, flying carpet, and some excellent mummies. They've also begun to include some very cool sets for use in your games. I highly recommend this set, along with any other Darkmook paper minis.

Quinn Murphy sent me a review copy of his first Worldbreaker, Etherkai. The terrifying creature is a creature literally of nightmares.

What is a worldbreaker? To quote Quinn: “Imagine a monster of such power and presence that, for a short period of time, it drastically alters the world around it. A monster that changes the rules of the game, presenting players with unexpected twists, new and interesting mechanics and previously unfathomable problems. A worldbreaker is a solo unlike any other in 4e. Each monster comes with an engaging story, evocative art, and exciting mechanics.”

There will be nine monsters total, with Etherkai being the first.

The great thing about Etherkai’s back story, is the use of elements of the world that you recognize, but aren’t copyrighted: Underearth, the Chained God… If you know your 4e D&D lore, you’ll recognize their analogues in the world easily, making the dragon feel like it’s a part of the world you’re already playing in.

Etherkai was imprisoned by the Chained God, and has now escaped. His twisted psychic powers feed on nightmares, and his mechanics reflect that.

All Worldbreaker monsters unleash a Worldbreaker power. In Etherkai’s case, it’s the Nightmare’s Gate. The players must rush to close the Nightmare Wells that fill the battlefield. Anyone who fails a skill check while near these wells loses a healing surge. Gone. Etherkai also gains an extra temporary 120 HP. Yikes.

At 10th level, Etherkai makes the perfect villain for the end of a Heroic Tier adventure. All events can lead up to the final showdown with him, as Etherkai summons Nightmare Warriors (one per turn, at 40 HP each!) and throws off conditions like they were made of paper.

It’s a terrifying monster, one that Quinn has done a fantastic job of bringing to life.

Once again, DarkMook knocks it out of the park. Evocative, well drawn and well colored, this set features troops in biohazard suits ready to take down and contain zombies or other horrors. Fantastic once again.

I recently was in contact with Dr. Jonathan Jacobs of Nevermet Press, and received a review copy of Nevermet's latest endeavor, Brother Ptolemy & The Hidden Kingdom.

The book is a 4e "Adventure Setting", which means that while it does have an adventure, that's only a small part of this book in comparison. It's a really cool concept, so let's see how it works!

Chapter one opens with a history of who Brother Ptolemy and the Hidden Kingdom are, a group of monks who have found the secret to undeath. The chapter gives information on the group's goals and organization. The group often recruits the homeless and forgotten, considering no one will miss them once they're gone. They also hide their undead faces behind masks as part of their garb.

The chapter includes stat blocks for Ptolemy and his monks. What impressed me most was that there are seven different stat blocks for the monks, not including Ptolemy. And they're different, unique monsters, of mid-heroic tier. It would be pretty easy to begin slipping this group into your campaign from the beginning, reaching a boiling point around level six in your campaign.

Chapter two introduces a new disease, the Red Harvest, a fairly brutal 9th Level disease which has the opportunity to permenantly change a character into a "plague stalker", driven mad with the desire for blood.

The disease even effects plants, turning all into a deep rust color. Soon the land looks bathed in blood, not the type of place you want to visit on vacation.

The plague stalker template itself can be truly terrifying, as entire villages will be overrun with the disease and turn into a zombie-like horde. Not only are the villagers themselves overtaken, but animals as well. There are some really terrifying ideas presented, which could end up becoming quite a plague (no pun intended) on your players.

Chapter three presents the City-State of Corwyn, a sprawling city on the banks of a river, which could really be placed in any fantasy world. The chapter talks about the Red Monks of the Hidden Kingdom rescuing the city from almost certain doom when the Red Harvest overtook the lands many years ago, putting the city in the monk's debt. The monks now walk freely in the streets, and the townspeople are blissfully unaware of the sinister secrets behind the brotherhood of monks.

Chapter four is the adventure proper, with the heroes finding themselves at odds with the Hidden Kingdom. It's designed for 5th level heroes, and deals with the resurgence of the Red Harvest. There are quite a few NPCs introduced throughout, and a lot of opportunity for roleplaying. There's a really large chunk of the section designed purely for information gathering and roleplaying, which I like a lot. Eventually, however, the Red Harvest comes calling, and the plagued walk the streets, giving the players a run for their money, until they must go to the Von Brandt manor to face the leaders of the Hidden Kingdom in their base of operations. The game doesn't end there, but in the eventual trial of the monks, which is pretty cool to read about. I've wanted to run a trial in a game for a long time now, and this shows me how to do it.

Chapter five has magical items, including my favorite, the Beggar's Coin, which takes the hunger out of a hungry man by simply pressing it into their hand, but only if you have less than 5gp on you.

Finally, Chapter six presents new feats and rituals for the members of the Hidden Kingdom to perform, which are good, solid new rules.

The Appendix in the back has some great adventuring hooks for getting your players involved in the intrigue behind it all as well.

In all, at 110 pages, this is a fantastic book for anyone looking for some awesome and creepy new adversaries in their 4e D&D game. Definitely check it out.

With the release of rpgKids 1.5, there's no reason not to get your kids into RPGs. Enrique's update to rpgKids which appeared both on his website and in the Open Game Table 2.

Enrique sent me a review copy to look at, and it's a really, really solid product. He's had some great reactions, and as of this moment, it's #4 on the RPGNow Hottest Items list.

The game is a simple, straightforward roleplaying game to teach kids concepts such as math, taking turns and rational thinking. It encourages the use gridded maps and miniatures, which I approve of, because I think it engages a child's tactile and visual senses.

There are four character types a child can play: Sword Fighters, Wizards, Archers and Healers. Archers have to keep track of the number of arrows they use, to help with math skills, healers can heal allies and when they attack, hit everything adjacent to them, sword fighters can team up with other sword fighters, while wizards are the only ones who can read magic, making them invaluable outside of combat.

Combat rules are very simple, with a d12 being rolled by each side, and the higher winning. The rules are very simple and easy to understand, making it ideal for kids. In fact, it seems like it would be quite easy for a child to run an entire adventuring party, and I've seen Enrique's kid do that very thing on the videos he's posted on his site.

The book also contains counters and a 1" grid for making adventures. It's pretty nifty, with nice simple crayon drawings of heroes and monsters.

The book concludes with a nice little adventure called The Lair of the Frog Wizard, in which the evil wizard is turning the town to frogs, and the must stop him. Its a great introduction to the game, and really shows the style of play you should be using with your kids.

I look forward to seeing what else Enrique comes out with in the future. I'd love to see a Sci-Fi version of this for kids who love Star Wars, or even a Super Hero one.

Today, I’ll be reviewing the Open Game Table, Volume 2. I was sent a physical review copy by Jonathan Jacobs, one of the editors for the book.
Right off the bat, I’m going to tell you that I’m pretty biased towards this book. Many of my friends are published in here, and it’s really cool to see their blog posts in print.
This book is a collection of blogs from around the interwebs, many from the RPG Blogger’s Network.
The books is really well laid out, with thirteen different broad topics covered: Gaming roots & reflections, new players/new games, campaign success & failure, lies, tricks & more damned lies, campaign design choices, of sandboxes & railroads, play style, character style, 4e D&D, Old School RPGs, make it a challenge, the RPG toolbox, and “laughing hyenas” (comedic posts).
A few notable posts really stand out to me, which I’ll talk about.
1. The Jeremy Jones interview with Dave Arneson. This is one of the last interviews he gave before passing. He talks about a wide variety of topics, with some really great things to take away from it, including; “The players are there to keep the referee amused. If they don’t, he will find a way to make it entertaining,” and “[the heart of a good game,] as far as I am concerned it is the story. It can make or break a game quite easily.”
2. Realism Stinks, or What It’s All About by Justin Achilli. In this article, Justin points out something I hadn’t thought of before, that if there’s a skill in the game, it’s there for you to use it, and be an integral part of the game. If you’re playing a vampire game, and there’s a computer use skill, then you should expect that “this is a setting in which people who use computers are a significant facet of the setting.”
3. Nico’s Lego RPG: assault on the Crystal King’s Cave by ChattyDM. This is an awesome little article where Chatty plays an RPG with his son, Nico, using Legos. In the end, he finds the game less magical than the games he had previously played with his son, where they used to just tell stories. I can agree with that.
4. Monotheism in D&D by multiple. There are two great articles about monotheism in D&D, by both Paul King and Michael Wolf. Both take different perspectives, but both are fantastic articles.
5. rpgKids by Enrique Bertran. Enrique just came out with rpgKids 1.5, and this is the original, which has gotten rave reviews. I’ll be reviewing rpgKids 1.5 later this week, so keep your eyes open for that.
There are a bunch of other fantastic articles, and if I talked about them all, we’d be here all night.
This one is definitely a step up from the previous Open Game Table Volume 1, which was fantastic to begin with. If you’re looking for a place to get the “best of the best”, this is the place to go.

For those who haven’t seen ChaoticShiny.com, it’s Hannah’s site for random generators she’s come up with, allowing you to create civilizations, pantheons, mottos, regions and more. It’s a great way to piece together ideas for a campaign world.
The KBGP2 is an .exe file (sorry Mac users) which gives you lots of possibilities for designing your own kingdom, including fashion, armies, law, place names, conspirators, events, and even flags!
The first tab in the program is for your Kingdom & Hooks. This generates your Kingdom name, who its ruled by, prominent places, some laws, recent events in the kingdom, notable individuals, how the army is run, and current fashion. Some results seem odd (since it is a random generator), but you can get some really interesting variations on strange lands.
I had it generate me a kingdom, and here’s what it came up with:
Kingdom Name: Traetael
Ruled By: A philosopher-queen
Prominent Places: Kraemi Strait, Restdaisy Foothill, Treatmiss Jungle, Leastgator County, Wrackblade Wetlands
A Few Laws: The penalty for a nonhuman striking a courtesan is a few months’ imprisonment.
The penalty for insulting a juvenile is a few months’ imprisonment.
Recent Events: In a northeastern township bandits have become prevalent and a beholder has been plaguing a village. Meanwhile, an important bard has gone missing. A prominent socialite may be involved.
There has been a string of kidnappings near the eastern region and there have been severe droughts for the past several years. A prominent socialite may be involved.
A prominent socialite has been stirring up discontent in the southeastern township and there is a dangerous drought.
Notable Individuals: Alorrel, the proud master artisan who recently had a sudden change in alliance. She has few open allies. Rumors say that she has some interesting relationships with certain warriors. She can usually be found at all the biggest social events. She is wiry with mismatched eyes and black hair. The kind guard captain Scethai is her ex-lover. The arrogant adventurer Cansan is her lover.
Cand, the slothful, smug foreigner who has been preaching the new religion. He has questionable allies. He is short with a pierced lip and piercing blue eyes. The talented spy Inoulloe is his adversary.
Army: Traetael’s army is famed for its accurate archers and the use of flails. They often make use of rogues. They are famous for their high-quality weapons and for flashy tactics.
Current Fashion: This fashion features soft, scanty tan and blue-green garments. Tops are typically short sleeved with low necklines. Jodhpurs and pants are also customary. Capes are popular accessories. Leather and collars are staples of the style. Bright blue, deep red, and vibrant blue are also common colors. The wealthy and the poor wear very different clothing.
As you can see, there’s a lot of hooks there for you to expand upon. Even from the second line “Ruled by a philosopher-queen”, you begin thinking; how does being a philosopher effect her rule? With recent events, you’ve got at least three different game sessions each time you hit the “Generate Kingdom” button. That’s a lot! You’ll keep your party occupied for months!
Sometimes, the results are less than stellar (an example being that “the penalty for insulting a juvenile is a few months’ imprisonment”). However, it gets your mind working, in figuring out why that would be in this kingdom. And if you don’t feel like spending the brainpower, just tell it to generate again, or go over to the “Law” tab.
The other tabs are more detailed versions of the different events of the Kingdom & Hooks tab. you’re able to generate any number of armies and choose what suits you best, as well as place names (which could work very well when you’re in a pinch) as well as conspirators. The conspirators are a bit unusual, since I’m not sure why they’re named as such. I would most likely have named them “shady characters” if I was designing it, but I supposed conspirators works just as well.
The Flag tab is really cool. With it, you can come up with all kinds of strange and unusual coats of arms, with pictures of dragons, unicorns, pegasuses, and more.
You can set specific parameters, including colors, only using heraldric colors, and even import your own pictures for the symbols.
In all, the Kingdom Builder is a definite must-have for anyone trying to come up with their own kingdoms, and those who could use a little help coming up with various hooks and NPCs.

Not a bad game for kids, the game probably won't hold much interest for adults. The rules are very, very simple, and a ton of space is set aside for explaining to kids how to play and GM.
To be honest, I was hoping for a little bit more robust a system, but as a game for kids, give it a try.

I was sent a free review copy of the Conflict Roleplaying Rulebook recently by Conflict Roleplaying, and have perused it.
Conflict is a roleplaying game supplement by Mark M. Scott for the Pathfinder and OGL d20 rule systems, allowing for a group of players to play PVP combat while making sure the game is balanced for any rules the players may be using from any supplement.
The book is 120 pages of gaming goodness, providing some very interesting ways of dealing with arena type campaigns where your sole goal is to wipe your enemy off the map.
The book details types of matches, map elements, feats, and some pre-generated characters.
This almost completely redesigns how character creation is done. You aren’t trying to create a compelling character, you’re creating a battlefield terror, intent only on destroying your enemies. The cover of the book is a well painted piece of art detailing two knights in combat (as you can see on the right) and the rest of the book is in greyscale, with decent art throughout.
This book looks like it took a lot of time and a lot of playtesting to pull off.
The idea of the Battlepoints system is that, based on your level, you are given a certain number of battlepoints to spend on your class, magical and non-magical items, as well as different battlefield conditions. The DM plays the role of the referee, which allows for secret movement and orders by the players through sheets called “passcards” which let the players write out their plans on them, including what attacks they’ll make, what square they’ll be moving into, and any other condition the DM needs to know.
There are many different game types, including “Ambush,” “Kill of the Hill,” “Hellbreak,” “Regicide,” and “Brother’s Keeper.” Each one has specific win conditions that must be met in order for one team or the other to win. Within each type of game, there are other variants, so you aren’t likely to run out of options any time soon.
Conflict Laws are special rules the DM can apply to nearly any game, adding even more options, such as Dead Lands, which cancels out all magic in the battle, or Fog of War, which makes it more difficult to attack the enemy with range attacks.
There are 15 team feats presented, which allow you to benefit not only yourself, but others on your side. Mostly involving distracting an opponent so the other can move in for a hit, or holding the enemy while another lands blows on him.
There’s also a pair of hefty guides within, once for the DM, the other for players, and gives some good tips on different conflicts and how they can be run.
In the game Bridget and I tried, we had a blast, pounding the snot out of each other across the excellent map provided. It was pretty awesome.
Overall, this is a very solid product, with some great options for a game group who is tired of the standard grind and wants to take their aggression out on one another. It’s definitely a book I would recommend to any Pathfinder and 3.5 players out there.